You’ve probably heard it before: drinking coffee is good for your health. Studies have shown that drinking a moderate amount of coffee is associated with many health benefits, including a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But while these associations have been demonstrated many times, they don’t actually prove that coffee reduces disease risk. In fact, proving that coffee is good for your health is complicated.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Federal Officials Drop Feud Over School Masking as Districts End Defiance and State Returns Money Owed
In early November, citing steep drops in local coronavirus cases, the last of the eight districts came into compliance with the health department’s rule aimed at preventing mask requirements. The state education department on Nov. 29, returned nearly $878,000 to districts.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, December 16, 2021
Circuit Court Judge Terence Perkins hears a plea from Joey Renn, the 22-year-old man facing a charge of vehicular homicide. Patricia Lockwood on her father’s belief that cats, which he despises, are Democrats.
The White Flight Behind Native Americans’ 87% Population Growth
Birth rates among Native Americans don’t explain the massive rise in numbers. And there certainly is no evidence of an influx of Native American expatriates returning to the U.S. Instead, individuals who previously identified as white are now claiming to be Native American. This growing movement has been captured by terms like “pretendian” and “wannabe.”
Facing Record Exceeding 1,000 Manatee Deaths This Year, Wildlife Officials Seek Permanent, Effective Solutions
In 2017, manatees were upgraded from an “endangered” designation to “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pointing to an increase in the manatee population and habitat improvements because of conservation efforts. That trend appears not to have lasted. The number of deaths this year is estimated to be about one-sixth of the population of manatees in the waters of the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, December 15, 2021
The Palm Coast Planning and Land Development Board meets, “Gone With the Wind”‘s anniversary, and a few words about Chief Justice John Marshall and his sordid history.
China’s Ongoing Genocide of the Uyghurs
After 18 months of deliberations and three hearings of evidence from witnesses and experts – including anthropologists, political scientists and international lawyers – the London-based Uyghur Tribunal has ruled that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide, by coercive birth control.
Judge Orders Walgreens to Turn Over Company Data on Opioid Profits in Florida
Pasco County Circuit Judge Kimberly Sharpe Byrd on Friday gave Walgreens until Dec. 31 to start turning over “financial information sufficient to show all rebates, discounts, chargebacks, coupon reimbursements and any other money back it received on opioids” it purchased or sold in Florida since 1996.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, December 14, 2021
The Palm Coast City Council talks manager search and sets up new community development districts, Flagler Beach’s July 4 committee meets to finalize its report, the county’s planning board meets.
Tornadoes and Climate Change: The Twists Ahead
The deadly tornado outbreak that tore through communities from Arkansas to Illinois on the night of Dec. 10-11, 2021, was so unusual in its duration and strength, particularly for December, that a lot of people including the U.S. president are asking what role climate change might have played – and whether tornadoes will become more common in a warming world.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, December 13, 2021
The Flagler County Commission meets for the last time in regular session this year and will approve the platting of the Beachwalk development in the Hammock. The Bunnell City Commission also meets and may discuss the revelations of serious problems at the police department.
Early Data on Omicron: More Transmissible But less Severe
Exponential rise in new Covid-19 cases from the Omicron variant in a South African province suggests the variant is highly transmissible. But hospitalisations and excess deaths have been lower than the rate of increase in new Covid cases, suggesting that the variant may cause less severe illness.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, December 12, 2021
Anniversary of the swearing in of Joseph Hayne Rainey, first Black man to serve in Congress, and birth anniversary of William Lloyd Garrison, plus a few words from Nikole Hannah-Jones and the 1619 Project.
How Canada Is Dismantling Anti-Black Racism in Schools
With ample data demonstrating the effects of systems that undermine educational opportunities of Black students, it’s clear that access to education isn’t equitable and inclusive. Here’s a model of targeted improvements based on strategic community engagement that school boards can learn from and enact.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, December 11, 2021
The Flagler Woman’s Club honors Flagler Beach police at a pancake breakfast, and you’re invited, the Palm Coast Starlight Festival is this evening in Town Center, Darlene Love at the Flagler Auditorium for a Christmas Show.
Why is Inflation So High? 3 Questions Answered.
Consumer prices jumped 6.8% in November 2021 from a year earlier – the fastest rate of increase since 1982, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics published today. Here’s what’s driving the recent increase in inflation and how it affects consumers, companies and the economy.
DeSantis Pitches Election-Year Budget Just Shy of $100 Billion, With Big Subsidies from Federal Aid
Saying that Florida is “clicking on all cylinders,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday proposed an election-year $99.7 billion budget that would funnel money to education, the environment and law-enforcement officers while giving motorists a temporary gas-tax break thanks to federal subsidies.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, December 10, 2021
Michael Waltz on WNZF’s Free For All Fridays, the Choral Arts Society’s Christmas concert, Mortimer Zuckerman decries American education, in 1988, “All Things Christmas” Sale at Santa Maria Del Mar.
How the Car and Oil Industry Knowingly Poisoned You for 100 Years
When GM began selling leaded gasoline, public health experts questioned its decision. One called lead a serious menace to public health, and another called concentrated tetraethyl lead a “malicious and creeping” poison. It made no difference.
Democrats’ Failure to Protect Abortion Rights
Conservative Republicans started prioritizing a high court takeover, with the explicit aim of ending legal abortion, more than 40 years ago. Democrats and progressives stuck their heads in the sand. Women, denied autonomy over their own bodies, are poised to pay the biggest price.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, December 9, 2021
Flagler Beach city commissioners are expected to approve submitting a $17.6 million loan application to the State Revolving Fund to fund sewer plant repairs. The All Things Christmas sale at Santa Maria del Mar in Flagler Beach continues.
‘It’s Stressful to Kill Somebody’: Health Workers Behind Assisted Dying
New legislation in Britain laying groundwork for legalizing assisted dying are part of a wider international movement towards formally allowing some form of assisted dying. That means addressing how and whether healthcare professionals will be involved in facilitating assisted dying, and the effect this may have on them.
Voters Approved Nonpartisan School Boards 23 Years Ago. GOP Lawmakers Want That to Change.
Florida’s local school boards, which oversee public school districts in 67 counties, are currently nonpartisan. That goes back more than 20 years, following a ballot initiative in November 1998. At that time, voters approved allowing school board members to be nonpartisan. GOP lawmakers are pushing to overhaul those boards by requiring elections to be partisan.
The GOP Normalizes Islamophobia
Rep. Lauren Boebert insinuating that Rep. Ilhan Omar could have been a suicide bomber isn’t just about an unhinged Congresswoman stoking the extreme fringe of the Republican base. The real issue is the ongoing normalization of Islamophobia in America, which has soared to frightening new heights since 9/11.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, December 8, 2021
“Jews of Florida: Centuries of Stories,” at the Main Library in St. Augustine this morning, the Flagler Tiger Bay Club’s guest this evening is CNN’s Alice Stewart.
Sondheim’s ‘Assassins’ and the Bizarre Role of Guns in American Culture
Stephen Sondheim, who died on Nov. 26, 2021, had a knack for using stage and song to explore America’s dark, violent underbelly. “Assassins” is a collective biography of the historical figures who attempted to assassinate U.S. presidents, four of them successfully.
Typical FPL Bill Will Rise $7 a Month as Panel Approves Increase Due to Fuel Costs
FPL and other utilities, which are heavily dependent on natural gas, have grappled in recent months with higher fuel costs. Utilities pass along such costs to consumers and are not supposed to earn profits on them.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, December 7, 2021
A neighborhood meeting regarding the development of Eagle Lake on Old Kings Road is scheduled for this evening. The School Board meets in workshop and will discuss “equity.” The Palm Coast City Council meets. Jack Kemp when he called American football capitalism and European soccer socialism.
Modern-Day Culture Wars Are Playing Out on Historic Tours of Slaveholding Plantations
Discussions during plantation tours among visitors can often turn into visceral debates over whose history should be told or ignored. These tensions are part of an ever-growing work of criticism directed at sites that continue to omit the history of the enslaved community. Of the 600 plantations scattered throughout the South, only one, the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, focuses entirely on the experiences of the enslaved.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, December 6, 2021
Flagler County commissioners are set to approve a new, expanded agreement with the East Flagler Mosquito Control District and approve their own new schedule of impact fees.
CNN’s Cuomo Ethics Problems
How CNN’s Chris Cuomo avoid conflicts of interest while pitching softball questions to his brother during the pandemic, much less by providing behind-the-scenes advice on how to deal with the sexual harassment scandal?
Divided Federal Court Denies DeSantis Request for Injunction in Health Care Vaccination Fight
Sunday’s decision, however, did not mean the Biden administration can move forward with the health-care worker vaccination requirement Monday, as originally planned. That is because a Louisiana federal judge last week issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Biden administration rule.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, December 5, 2021
Craig Flagler Palms’s 18th annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance, Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit”, Holiday Concert, Stetson University Concert Band, U.S. Sen. Henry Kuchel, R-Calif., decries self-styled “I am a better American than you are” organizations.
‘Schitt’s Creek’ Holiday Special: Johnny’s Menorah, Still Lit in Diaspora
“Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose” demonstrates how the omnipresence of Christmas has offered American Jews a variety of non-exclusive options for handling the holiday season: Ignore or distance themselves from Christmas, embrace (at least) its more secular aspects and bond with other non-Christian groups who may also feel like outsiders.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, December 4, 2021
Flagler Beach’s Holiday Parade is back, the Creative Bazaar is in Town Center, City Repertory Theatre stages Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit,’ the Jacksonville Symphony performs Mozart’s Dream, and in a Bob Cuff special, a codfish theft case from Old Bailey.
Plastics Trashing Oceans Have Their Biggest Source in US
On a per capita basis, the U.S. produces an order of magnitude more plastic waste than China – a nation often vilified over pollution-related issues.And only a small fraction of plastic in U.S. household waste streams is recycled.
UF Board Chairman Mori Hosseini Blasts Professors Testifying Against New Election Law
During a meeting Friday, UF Board of Trustees chairman Mori Hosseini led the charge in sharply criticizing the professors and rallying around university President Kent Fuchs, though Hosseini appeared to misunderstand the scope of professors’ academic freedom.
In Latest Salvo Against Biden, DeSantis Seeks to Revive ‘Florida State Guard’
The proposal was fully in keeping with DeSantis’ ongoing sparring with President Joe Biden over border policies, the response to Covid, even a suggestion that the FBI investigate threats of violence to school board members trying to enforce mandatory masking by schoolchildren.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday December 3, 2021
First Friday is back in Flagler Beach, Noel Coward at CRT, A busy day starting hearings in court featuring perennials suspects or convicts, a Christmas sale at Santa Maria del Mar, Mozart’s Dream at the Jacksonville Symphony.
School Shootings Are At a Record High This Year. They Can Be Prevented.
The shooting at Oxford High School was one of 222 school shootings in 2021, an all-time high, according to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 School Shooting Database.
Florida’s Share of Biden Infrastructure Bill for Roads, Bridges and More: $16.7 Billion in 5 Years
Florida is expected to receive $2.6 billion to improve public transportation, $1.6 billion for water improvements, $1.2 billion for airport development, $29 million for cybersecurity, $26 million to protect against wildfires, and a minimum of $100 million to expand broadband coverage, with a projection that it will provide access to at least 707,000 Floridians.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, December 2, 2021
Michael McIntyre, who faces a capital murder charge in a death by overdose, is scheduled for a plea, another sold-out candlelight concert at Stetson, J.B. Jackson on the necessity of ruins.
Supreme Court Will Eviscerate Roe v. Wade But Signals Split on What Comes Next
The Supreme Court justices signaled a major shift on abortion law in arguments on a Missouri case today but the six conservative justices who hold the majority in the highest court seemed divided: Would they overturn the core right to abortion entirely or would they allow abortion to be limited by the states to the early stages of pregnancy?
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Lane closure on Matanzas Woods Parkway at the I-95 overpass, Palm Coast’s Code Enforcement Board meets, Stetson’s School of Music’s Christmas Candlelight Concerts kick off, but they’re sold out, and Maupassant explains why he’s terrified of December.
Anti-CRT Lawmakers Are Passing Pro-CRT Laws
Anti-CRT messaging has emerged as a signature – and potent – GOP political talking point. But while Republicans introduced 54 CRT-related bills across 24 states, most of these bills – if you take seriously their actual text – call for more CRT, not less.
Federal Judge Blocks Biden’s Vaccine Mandate for Millions of Health Workers in 10 States
Under the rules with a Jan. 4 deadline, many private sector employees will be required to get vaccinated or undergo weekly tests, while some 17 million health care providers at facilities participating in the federal Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs must be vaccinated — with no option to choose weekly testing instead.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Terry McManus formerly of Ocean Palms Golf Club in Flagler Beach, now serving four years in prison, is back in court on a fraud case, Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt learns to drive a school bus, Gordon S. Wood on the War of 1812.
Millions of Americans Are Struggling to Pay Their Water Bills. Time for an Aid Program.
A 2019 survey found that U.S. households in the bottom fifth of the economy spent 12.4% of their disposable income on water and sewer services. News reports suggest that for low-income households, this burden has increased during the pandemic.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, November 29, 2021
Grand Chanukah Celebration at European Village, a Charlie Brown Christmas, Diderot and Hume, citizens of the world, UN’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
‘Let’s Go Brandon’ and the Linguistic Jiujitsu of American Politics
The enthusiastic adoption of the phrase by President Joe Biden’s detractors suggests that “Let’s go Brandon” is best described as a minced oath. These are euphemisms used in place of a taboo or blasphemous expression. Such oaths have a long history in English. Some Biden supporters are turning the phrase into one of support for him. And as a variant, some of the president’s supporters have begun to employ, “Thank you Brandon.”